Purpose

To allow a group of individuals to manifest their natural motivations towards creating all manner of things that are wonderful, beautiful and free and in doing so provide the same opportunity for everyone else.

Activity

That which brings joy. Communal cooking and eating, workshops, classes, hacking, crafting, growing... Output including but not limited to; the creation of software, text, tools and systems - all free and open source.

Social

Governance

The space is governed equally by the residents on all matters except legal and financial matters which are governed equally by the legal members. All informal power hierarchies regularly searched for and surfaced. Fortnightly general meeting time-boxed to 60 minutes for all residents. One month a year during winter spent deeply understanding and analyzing the space after which there is a day-long AGM. Rules or guidelines generally not speculated in advance, but incrementally in response to drivers (See Decision making).

Decision making

Aim to make decisions with consent - decisions that no one resists. If consent cannot reasonably be achieved, decisions made by consensus - the best compromise that most people can live with. Emphasis on the zone of preceding decision making to make decisions more harmonious.  Individuals are supported to be autonomous and make decisions in the interest of the group within the zone of implied consent (based on intuition and awareness). Specifically the decision of an individual becomes the interest of a group if it meets resistance. Groups can find consent decisions simply by exploring existing options and synthesizing new ones. If no options are found that are free of resistance, consensus is found with Systemic Consensus (consensus using resistance based range voting with control options).

Joining

The capacity of the building being agreed upon, interested individuals could check online for availability and apply to stay as a guest. If residents require more calm, guests could be invited to only join during the first week of each month instead of continuously. 15 % of building capacity reserved for short-term guests (up to 2 weeks) in order to allow many people to experience the culture and learn. Opportunities to become a resident (i.e. long-term guest or legal member) arise when there is capacity. After 2 weeks of living in the space, one may apply to become a legal member.

Community

Aside from excellent internal community, the larger local community are invited as fellow humans to Vokus, workshops and resources of the Haus.

Resources

Food

Combination of food cooperation with retailers, bulk communal purchase and own production.

Space use

The space will be used functionally not individually. Could look something like:

• Sleeping
  • Dormitory room (full of bunk-beds)
  • Group mattress room (one big bed)
  • Quiet sleeping room (bookable for up to one week or can be used if free)
• Working
  • Silent working room
  • Talky working room
• Production
  • Kitchen
  • Workshop
  • Craft room
• Bathrooms

Item ownership

The benefits of private property relate to predictability: location, access and condition. However, private property can lead inequality and waste with severe social and environmental consequences. The following diagram shows a transition model in which many different types of ownership could co-exist using spatial boundaries.

Legal

Set up as an eingetragener Verein (e.V.) to allow a changing group of individuals to maintain the legal right to the property. The e.V. is set up in a way to make it extraordinarily difficult to sell the property. An e.V. can be set up relatively cheaply and requires little intervention/assessment later (compared to an e.G.) The e.V. Satzung will enshrine the purpose of the Haus, how people can become members, how membership is terminated, how the Satzung can be changed and other important bits.

Finance

Intrinsic interest to minimize financial activity and maximize economic efficiency. Better to reduce expenses than increase income.

Income

Possibly including but not limited to: personal savings, personal wages, donations from known individuals, crowd-funding, funding from state.

CAPEX

(CAPEX = CAPital EXpense, cash required to start up)

Reducing CAPEX: Property purchase represents the greatest potential cost thus the greatest potential saving. It is possible to find a suitable property for our needs as a gift and this warrants serious pursuit.

Estimated CAPEX: The registration of the legal entity represents a one-off cost in the region of 100 - 1,000 EUR. If after some time (say, 2017-01-01) a gifted building cannot be found, purchase is an option. Whilst there is no upper limit to how much one can spend on a building, it seems that for all intents and purposes a building at  ~50,000 EUR would be sensible. There might be a transfer cost regardless of whether the building is gifted or purchased (100 - 10,000 EUR?) If the building was disconnected from water, gas, electricity, telephone (internet) there could be significant connection costs (100 - 10,000 EUR?) The installation of utility machines, internet access points, lighting, heating systems, etc could wildly differ based on circumstances (0 - 10,000 EUR). Repair of outstanding damage could wildly differ based on circumstances (0 - 50,000 EUR) so watch out for vertical wall cracks, water damage and broken roofing!

OPEX

(OPEX = OPerational EXpense, cash required on an ongoing basis)

Reducing OPEX: Bills, repair work and food represent the greatest potential cost thus the greatest potential saving. The reduction of bills can be achieved with technological/structural advances, especially with measures conserving thermal energy. Repair work can be done by us and with helpers - if we have the time and will to learn this represents significant long-term savings. For food, see above.

Estimated OPEX: Gas and electricity combined could be 1,000 - 10,000 per year based on usage. Water, internet and land tax combined could be 100 - 1,000 per year. Repair materials and labor could be anywhere 0 - 50,000 EUR on a given year. Collective purchase of food could be 0 - 10,000 per year.